HANAU - A bomb exploded under a railway line near the German city of Hanau last night in what police believe was an attack by militants opposed to the transport of nuclear waste. No one was hurt and the track was undamaged, the Darmstadt local authority said.
The device, believed to be a pipe bomb, went off in a pedestrian subway under the track. Police found scraps of metal scattered about 100 metres, around the scene of the blast.
Thousands of German anti-nuclear protesters yesterday protested along the expected rail route of spent nuclear fuel destined for a nuclear dump in Gorleben, east of Hanover.
The shipment, to be guarded by 30,000 police in Germany's biggest post war security operation, is due to leave the southern German town of Walheim early today.